[spectre] update . bit international . [Nove] Tendencije – Computer and Visual Research [Zagreb 1961 - 1973]

[darko fritz]

bit international . update

Exhibition in Neue Galerie [Graz, Austria] is extended to 26th August  
2007.

96-pages German language exhibition catalogue is published by Neue  
Galerie in German. Price: 7 Euros, available via Neue Galerie.

Extensive English language anthology will be published by MIT Press  
in 2008 accompanying follow up exhibition in ZKM, Karlsruhe [2008].

Here enclosed improved list of 106 participating artist and artists  
groups.

Apart of the exhibited works and audio-visual documentation of  
working process and computer programs, the exhibition presents for a  
first time more than 30 hours of digitally restored audio archives of  
four symposia that were held 1968 - 1973 in Zagreb.

Exhibition website [in German]: http://www.neuegalerie.at/07/bit/ 
cover.html


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bit international . [Nove] Tendencije – Computer and Visual Research  
[Zagreb 1961 - 1973]

Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum . Graz . Austria
28 April – 26 August 2007

opening: Friday 27th April 19 h

Curator: Darko Fritz (Zagreb / Amsterdam)

Artists / artists groups:
+ Marc Adrian + Jose Luis Alexanco + Kurd Alsleben / Cord Passow +  
Getulio Alviani + Anonymous Collective + Vojin Bakic + John  
Baldessari + Mario Ballocco + Manuel Barbadillo + Otto Beckmann /  
Alfred Grassl [Ars intermedia]: + Alberto Biasi [Gruppo N]: +  
Vladimir Bonačić + Hartmut Böhm + Frank Böttger + California  
Computer Products, Inc. [CALCOMP]: + Gianni Colombo + Compos 68 +  
Computer Centre ‘Boris Kidrič’ Institute + Charles Csuri +  
Waldemar Cordeiro / Jorge Moscati + Ivan Čizmek + Dadamaino + Hugo  
Rodolfo Demarco + Gabriele De Vecchi [Gruppo T] + Milan Dobeš +  
herman de vries + Milan Dobeš + Piero Dorazio + Michel Fadat + Willam  
Allan Fetter + Alan Mark France + Herbert W. Franke + Horacio Garcia- 
Rossi [GRAV] + Karl Gerstner + Gruppo MID + Leon D. Harmon + Grace C.  
Hertlein + Miljenko Horvat + Hervé Huitric / Monique Nahas [g.a.i.v]  
+ Gottfried Jäger + Sture Johannesson / Sten Kallin + Hiroshi Kawano  
+ On Kawara + Julije Knifer + Kenneth C. Knowlton + Hans Köhler +  
Vladimir Kristl + Edoardo Landi [Gruppo N]:  + Auro Lecci + Julio Le  
Parc [GRAV] + Wolfgang Ludwig + Heinz Mack [Zero] + Frank Joseph  
Malina + Robert Mallary + Enzo Mari + Jean-Claude Marquette [g.a.i.v]  
+ Almir Mavignier + Leslie Mezei + Tomislav Mikulić + Petar  
Milojević + Gustav Metzger + Manfred Mohr + François Morellet [GRAV]  
+ Jane Moon [California Computer Products, Inc.]: + Frieder Nake +  
Maurizio Nanucci + Georg Nees + A. Michael Noll + Koloman Novak + Lev  
Voldemarovič Nusberg [Diviženije] + Sergej Pavlin + Ivan Picelj +  
Otto Piene [Zero] + Marko Pogačnik [OHO] + Manuel Quejido + Zoran  
Radović + Ludwig Rase + Vjenceslav Richter + Sylvia Roubaud / Gerold  
Weiss + Manfred Robert Schroeder + Lillian Schwartz + Dieter Schwille  
[mbb Computer Graphics] + Ana Seguí / Javier Seguí + Soledad Sevilla  
+ Jesus Raphael Soto + Aleksandar Srnec + Joël Stein [GRAV] + Kerry  
Strand [California Computer products inc.] + Alan Sutcliffe + Zdenek  
Sýkora + Nikola Šerman + Paul Talman + Goran Trbuljak + Stan  
VanDerBeek + Gregorio Vardanega + Evan Harris Walker + Aron  
Warszawski [mbb copmuter graphics] + Sol Le Witt + John Witney + Rolf  
Wölk [mbb copmuter graphics] + José María Yturralde + Yvaral [GRAV]  
+ Edward Zajec + Vilko Ziljak + Anton Zöttl +

audio archive of symposia presentations and debates (1968, 1969,  
1971, 1973):
+ Marc Adrian + Kurd Alsleben + ARC - Art Research Center + Badi  
Banga ne-Mwine + Dimitrije Bašičević + László Beke + Renzo  
Beltrame + René Berger + Božo Bek + Jonathan Benthall + Alberto  
Biasi  + Vladimir Bonačić + Florentino Briones + Silvio Ceccato +  
Waldemar Cordeiro + Nena Dimitrijević + Fanie Dupré + Jacques  
Dupré  + Umberto Eco + Herbert W. Franke + Grga Gamulin + Karl  
Gerstner + Alfred Grassl + Jean-Claude Halgand + Josef Hlaváček +  
Vera Horvat-Pintarić + Hervé Huitric + Hiroshi Kawano + Boris  
Kelemen + Martin Krampen + Fedor Kritovac + Želimir Koščević +  
Jean-Claude Marquette + Abraham A. Moles + Francois Molnar + Leonardo  
Mosso + Frieder Nake + Branimir Makanec + Matko Meštrović + Vladimir  
Muljević + Lev Nusberg  + Radoslav Putar + Vjenceslav Richter +  
Ronald B. de Sousa  + Josef Hermann Stiegler + Srboljub Stojanovič +  
Srečo Dragan + Irina Subotić + Zdenko Šternberg + Božo Težak +  
Jiri Valoch + Edward Zajec +


The ‚Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum’ examines one of  
the most important international trends of the 1960s in the  
exhibition “bit international. [Nove] tendencije - Computers and  
Visual research”, which was of enormous influence at the time, but  
which has now slipped out of public consciousness and has virtually  
been lost to the history of the development of art. While numerous  
exhibitions have been held with the titles “New Tendencies” or  
“Nouvelle Tendance” in Venice and Paris, the place of origin  
Zagreb has vanished from the focus of attention. A biennial event  
developed in Zagreb starting with concrete and constructive art in  
1961 maintained its avant-garde title by introducing the computer as  
a medium of “artistic research” in 1968. Simultaneous with the  
legendary „Cybernetic Serendipity“ at the London ICA in 1968,  
which is regarded as the first major computer art exhibition, a  
colloquium also took place in Zagreb with an exhibition of computer  
generated art, tendencije 4.

The Gallery for Contemporary Art in Zagreb – today the Museum of  
Contemporary Art – dedicated a series of exhibitions, symposia and  
publications on the subject of the ‘Computers and Visual  
Research’. Original projects in both art and science were  
presented.  During the heyday of the Cold War artists and scientists  
from the entire world travelled to Zagreb – from Germany, France,  
Italy, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia and the USA. The multi- 
lingual magazine Bit International published by the Gallery in Zagreb  
was an initiation point for aesthetic and media theory reflection and  
there was nothing that could be compared with it anywhere else in the  
world. ‘Tendencije 4’ attempted to both accompany and mould the  
historic transition in which the computer as a symbol processing  
machine first entered consciousness as a machine for artistic  
creation. The arts of the electronic media were not regarded as an  
isolated phenomenon, but were included in the history and the  
discourse on the fine arts and the performing arts.

A first review of the ‘Tendencije’ exhibitions and the  
publications of „Bit International“ has now been assembled in  
cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and with an  
international network of collectors and private archives in an  
exhibition curated by Darko Fritz.

The exhibition in the Neue Galerie Graz presents 106 artists and  
artists groups with more than 350 artworks - graphic work, films,  
sculptures, poems, theatrical texts and artistic concepts, alongside  
computer programs and other working process documents. The exhibition  
presents for the first time more than 30 hours of digitally restored  
audio recordings of four symposia that were held 1968 - 1973 in Zagreb.
An exhibition catalogue of 96 pages is published by the Neue Galerie  
in German. An extensive english language anthology will be published  
by MIT Press in 2008, accompanying the follow up exhibition at ZKM,  
Karlsruhe [2008].